Many systems integrators push facilities to undergo capital projects to upgrade physical plc equipment on the justification that it allows for better process control. This does not allow facilities to take intermediate steps to upgrade their controls programming until the new equipment is installed and wired. However, to be agile the process can be broken down into smaller steps. Using modern industrial computing software VESL has applies an agile methodology allowing facilities to unlock their potential earlier and enables testing of new programs prior to transfer to new hardware. This allows legacy PLC5 systems and other legacy equipment to utilize modern process controls and machine learning. This also segments the upgrades into first programming and cultivating the rewards of the programming benefits for improved process control. Then clients can reinvest in hardware upgrades based on the improvements utilized.
Normal Project
This paper identifies an opportunity to improve facility processes through the utilization of modern programming architectures/software. The objective is to generate a return on investment for clients, so that the first step in a project does not require direct capital investment in equipment. In manufacturing the temptation of a “Capital Bomb” is strong. It is easy to understand and has a physical reward. When a facility invests in new equipment they are often insentivised by sales reps or systems integrators who are receive many rewards and benefits from the plc equipment manufacturers. Additionally their bias is that they are contractually obligated in many cases to implement a specific PLC manufacturer as a proportion of the PLCs which they sell. They are also able to markeup these devices at a profit. The result is that systems integrators and equipemnt manufacturers are working together to get a client to buy a specific device regardless of whether it is the right choice for the client.
The days of proprietary PLC operating systems and languages are leaving. In the advent of OPCUA and standardized programming languages which are open source, it is easy to find a solution that can be developed for a facility without having to marry to a specific manufacturer or software vendor. Though a heavy investment in sales and significcant rewards to systems integrators who sell their products systems integrators have engaged in business practices designed make a transfer from one vendor to another nearly impossible, until now.
Case Study: Food + Beverage / Sugar Processing Facility:
Given a facility with 12 PLCs and 5 field touch panels, which are all running legacy equipment which is only available as refurbished or used a facility must begin to update their equipment. Depending on the vendor these devices are likely well outside of their expected lifespan. However, that does not mean that they do not run reliably under current operations. Many vendors or systems integrators will point to the advantages in upgrading this equipment. However manufacturers budgets are tight, and must become more agile every year.
Instead of first buying an entire plc and replacing and rewiring the IO cards facilities VESL utilized the hardware which is available in the facility and begins updating the facilities programming without requiring physical replacement. There are multiple computing resources which may be applied and utilized for process controls computing. These include existing industrial pcs onsite, new industrial pcs, cloud computing and data center virtual machines (vms). Depending on the budget and network infrastructure vesl identifies opportunitites to begin upgrading the process controls software architecture and implements these changes directly. That same progamming can be migrated to new hardware once the returns have been gained by the client. This goes hand in hand with out Digitization services. The process of performing a digital spotlight on a section of the process facility to debottleneck and improve oee, while programming the new conditions utilizing new programming architectures allows vesl to implement advanced process control schemes that are not acheivable on legacy equipment. Using the two of these together clients are able to get the benefits of digital transformation over time, and not wait until a 1-10 million capital hardware investment is complete.
In conclusion, if your goal is to digitally transform the facility, vesl is ready to work with your staff to identify opportunities. We will utilize the algorithms we have developed supporting multiple facilities along with the Digitization Framework, then implement the new process controls onto computing resources available onsite. Where needed we will provide industrial computing devices which cost approximately 1k dollars per PLC. With these we will begin the migration from legacy programming (ie ladder logic) into modern industrial computing and split the project for upgrading plc equipment into smaller sections. This enables the facility to gain the rewards of advanced process control, and the ability to switch between old and new controls programming on the fly in production. Then when the new equipment is installed the programs as simply installed on the new devices. This allows for the testing and validation of the program ahead of time and facilities are only undergoing testing and validation of the new hardware and 90% of the programming has already been validated.
The choice is yours as a manufacturer, if the hardware has reached an age where replacement is needed then VESL can design, develop and implement new hardware and software at a facility. Alternatively if the facility is only able to make a small investment, we can scale that investment to provide the best solution for a customers needs. We pride ourselved on being unbiased in our approach and supporting multiple vendors for process automation. The goal is to improve the process and keep manufacturers competitive, it is not to deploy a specific brand, or boost sales of equipment. If you are evaluating an equipment upgrade or are reaching the end of life for your equipment then we are here. If you have already updated to a modern system and wish to utilize modeling, simulation, data analytics, and advanced process control then we are here to provide the experise and solutiosn required.